Sunday, November 28, 2004

Happy People Colon Parentheses :)

Well, so concludes the end of a pretty wonderful weekend. I got to indulge in a sexy Thanksgiving meal with my family, and I was able to visit with a few old friends (Barons, Rohlwings--don't forget Amy Perzee is one of 'em now!), and I took a visit to Danville to see the darling Amy R. I hoped for a weekend of relaxation, and I indulged in this philosophy so fervantly that I actually feel as if I could do several backflips at this conclusive point of the four-day weekend. I want to build a house or something. I'm restless. I am.

But during the drive back to school, my brain started wondering random things, as it often does. I wondered who, if anyone, is truly happy. Now, I'm doing wonderfully for myself these days. I really feel like I'm getting a lot out of each day, but there's still so much I want to do and accomplish. So I thought, here I am, an extremely optimistic person, and yet still not completely content. Even celebrities, people who seem to have it all, can't possibly be completely happy. Take Eminem, for instance. He's got more money than the love child of Oprah and a Persian Sheik, but there's no way the guy is happy. His dad dumped him before he was born, his mother treated him like poo for his entire life then tried to SUE him once he had some money, his wife has cheated on him on countless occasions, and he only recently was able to get custody of his daughter. He's loaded, but I wouldn't trade my life for his in a million years.

I'm partially saying that money doesn't yield happiness, but I think I'm really trying to get across the idea that no matter what you achieve in your life, there's always more to get out of it. We all need to live in the moment and enjoy what wonderful experiences we encounter day in and day out, but there's always a bigger picture. I heard a quote somewhere: "to be happy, people need something to do, someone to love, and something to fight for." So while we enjoy our present, we look forward to a future. This future includes a more perfect job, dreams and aspirations, the perfect girl, kids, nice cars, flat screen TV's. I'm feeling more and more every day that these things are accomplishable. It just takes bold steps to make them happen. It's like in poker, "you can't win what you don't bet." I'm starting to feel like that. Happiness isn't a given; it's something to work for. You're never there, but you should always feel optimistic that you COULD be. That's the "something to fight for."